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Financial Education
Knowledge is your greatest asset. SM
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Highlights
Citigroup Financial Education Program
 
Highlights for October 2004
 
NATIONAL
 
2nd Annual Get Smart about Credit Day
  • October 21st, Citigroup joined with the American Bankers Association Education Foundation and the Federal Trade Commission for the 2nd annual Get Smart About Credit Day to raise awareness among young people (ages 14-24) about the responsible use of credit. The Get Smart About Credit program was one of Citigroup’s “Make a Difference Day” initiatives, which focused on financial education.
  • Over 200 Citigroup employees taught the dos and don’ts of credit to 5,000 teens and young adults in 40 cities across the country. Volunteers from hundreds of financial institutions visited colleges, high schools, youth groups, and continuing education classes to teach credit education in communities across the country. The program taught students how to budget, use credit cards responsibly and build a positive payment history.
  • Citigroup and Federal Trade Commission employees taught credit lessons together in 8 cities. In Washington, DC, Dara Duguay taught with Deborah Platt Majoras, Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission.
  • Additional Citigroup volunteers included: Faith Massingale, Executive Vice President of International Credit Cards, Mark Gilder, Chief Operating Officer of the Student Loan Corporation, and Mary Louise Preis, Senior Vice President & General Counsel of CitiFinancial.
  • The National Academy Foundation's (NAF) Academy of Finance (AOF) was an additional educational partner in this effort. Local Academies were chosen to participate with Citigroup in 9 cities.
  • Presentations on Get Smart About Credit Day provided students with comprehensive lessons and activities. Volunteers used two lessons from the Citigroup Financial Education Curriculum that focused on establishing credit, questions to ask when applying for credit and credit cards, how to avoid identity theft, avoiding abusive lending, and the costs of credit.
Financial Education in a Day
  • October 22nd in Oakland, 69 Citibank Financial Center Managers and volunteers visited local elementary schools to teach financial education. Approximately 1,000 students at Cleveland Elementary, Brookfield Elementary and Santa Rosa Elementary received financial education lessons from the Citigroup Financial Education Curriculum.
  • The event was organized by Ron Vest, Community Relations Director, and Adeeba Deterville, Community Relations Officer.
National “Make a Difference Day”
  • October 21-23, over 1,864 Citigroup employees joined with millions of Americans across the country doing volunteer projects to help make life better in local communities on the 14th annual "Make a Difference Day” (Oct.23). “Make A Difference Day” is sponsored by USA WEEKEND Magazine, in partnership with The Points of Light Foundation.
  • This year, Citigroup, one of 10 National “Make A Difference Day Award” winners in 2003, was involved in “Make a Difference Day” projects related to financial education.
  • In addition to service projects, Citigroup employees taught financial education to over 8,000 children and young people using the Citigroup curriculum.
  • Citigroup employees volunteered in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas, and Washington.
  • "Make a Difference Day" is the largest community service effort in the nation, rallying corporations, government leaders, charitable organizations and everyday Americans into action on one day. Last year on "Make A Difference Day," a record 3 million volunteers participated and an estimated 30 million people in need benefited.
From Purses to Portfolios
  • October 23rd in Wilmington, John Kohari, Chairman and CEO of Citibank Delaware, the Citigroup Foundation, State Treasurer Jack Markell and the Delaware Money School, the signature program of the Delaware Financial Literacy Institute, sponsored “From Purses to Portfolios: Delaware Women Take Charge of Their Money,” a free kick-off conference for a multi-faceted financial education program for women across the state.
  • “From Purses to Portfolios” was a program established to give women the information and motivation they need to put them on the road to financial security. The conference featured 19 workshops that covered getting out of debt, beginning and advanced investing, saving for college, starting a new business, and raising wallet-wise kids.
  • Dara Duguay, Director of Citigroup’s Office of Financial Education, served as a conference coach. Over 1,000 women attended.
  • Governor Ruth Ann Minner, U.S. Senator Tom Carper, State Treasurer Jack Markell, New Castle County Council President Chris Coons and Wilmington Mayor James Baker also attended the event.
FINANCIAL EDUCATION TRAINING
 
Citigroup Employee Web-Based Training
  • October 4th-18th, Stacey Sechrest, Deputy Director of the Office of Financial Education, launched and conducted web-based financial education training sessions for Citigroup employees volunteering to teach financial education for the 2nd annual Get Smart About Credit Day and the 14th annual National “Make a Difference Day.”
  • Over 200 employees received training on the credit modules from Citigroup’s Financial Education Curriculum to participate in Get Smart About Credit. Employees volunteering to teach financial education for “Make a Difference Day” received financial education training on the K-8 modules from the curriculum.
Boys and Girls Clubs
  • On October 21st in Dallas, 6 Citibank employees conducted a Train the Trainer financial education seminar for 45 staff members from the Boys and Girls Clubs in the Dallas Fort Worth area. This training supports the Texas Leadership grant to develop financial education programs in Boys and Girls Clubs across the state.
  • Similar training sessions were conducted in San Antonio and Houston.
INTERNATIONAL
 
Citigroup Jordanss Finance Training for Government Officials
  • October 4th in Amman, Suhair Al-Ali, Citigroup Country Officer in Jordan, joined His Excellency Dr. Bassem Awadallah, the Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, to launch the “Capital Markets and Finance” training seminar, a six-day intensive workshop on the latest corporate finance techniques. 27 high-level officials from Jordanian ministries and government institutions attended the training program.
  • Supported by a grant from the Citigroup Foundation and conducted by Citigroup employees, the workshop, was designed to provide participants with the necessary financial skills to address complex financial models presented by local and international partners and to familiarize them with funding techniques for large projects. The curriculum included a comprehensive overview of fixed income tools, pricing and hedging techniques, project finance structures and detailed case studies relevant to the Jordanian market.
  • Citigroup has been present in Jordan since 1974 and is a leading provider of treasury products. In its 30-year presence in the Kingdom, the bank has evolved into an active corporate citizen with a particular interest in supporting financial and higher education, microfinance and other humanitarian needs of the country.
Citigroup Corporate Finance University Banking Program
  • October 5th in Budapest, Zdenek Turek, Citigroup Country Officer for Citigroup Hungary, in partnership with Corvinus University, launched the Citigroup Corporate Finance University Banking Program, designed to offer students access to the most up-to-date information and trends in the financial markets. The Citigroup Foundation awarded a grant of $40,000 to support the program in the 2004-2005 academic year.
  • Citigroup volunteers participated in student forums and gave lectures on financial and banking subjects. In addition, Citigroup will host a summer intern trainee program to give students valuable work experience.
Citigroup UAE's Financial Services and Banking Program
  • October 5th in Sharjah, Sajjad Razvi, Citigroup Country Officer in the UAE, and Dr. Farid Ohan, Director of Sharjah Women’s College (SWC), part of the Higher Colleges of Technology, honored graduates of Citigroup’s Financial Services and Banking Program during a special ceremony held at the college. The unique initiative, supported by a grant from the Citigroup Foundation, aims to provide female graduates with the skills necessary to succeed in the banking and financial services sector.
  • The one-year intensive program covered the areas of financial services, investment services, insurance services, banking in practice, interpretation of accounts and trade finance. Citibank UAE also supported the program by providing teaching support and internships for the top five diploma students on an annual basis.
  • To date, 11 students have graduated and the program has achieved a 90% job placement rate for students within one month of graduation. The Accelerated Diploma falls into a series of training and financial education initiatives that have been initiated by Citigroup in conjunction with top academic centers in the UAE.
Junior Achievement Banks in Action Competition
  • October 4th in Bogota, Citibank Colombia hosted the second round of the Banks in Action competition. Among the 10 public school teams competing, the team with the highest profits and return on investment for their shareholders will represent Colombia at the Banks in Action Regional Competition in Brazil. After three more rounds, the final competition will be held on November 11th.
  • Banks in Action teaches high school students about the principles of the banking industry. Using computer simulation, teams of students make decisions to attract deposits and borrowers, set interest rates, and invest in marketing and R&D to reduce operational costs.
  • During the competition, Citibank employee volunteers provided background on the banking industry to enable students to make sound decisions and also supported JA's personal finance, entrepreneurship and international trade programs that develop students' understanding of business, the economy and personal financial management.
  • A Citigroup Foundation grant of US$35,000, made in November 2003, supported the expansion of Junior Achievement's full range of economic and financial education programs to students in elementary and secondary schools in Bogota.
Junior Achievement Ireland
  • October 20th in Dublin, Aidan Brady, Citigroup Country Officer for Ireland, Bill Cullen, Chairman of Renault Ireland, and Junior Achievement Ireland, a non-profit organization that teaches students about free enterprise and the market economy, launched the Company Program, an innovative new business program that allows students to set up and run their own company, during a ceremony at the Larkin Community School. The program is supported by a three-year grant of US$105,000 from the Citigroup Foundation.
  • The Company Program is targeted to young people (between the ages of 15-19 years old) and is taught by a business volunteer. The students set up and run a fully functional company. They appoint directors, raise working capital through selling shares, maintain financial records, produce accounts, develop, market and sell their product, prepare an annual report, hold an AGM and distribute profits to shareholders. At the event, fifth year students from St. Dominic’s Secondary School in Cabra presented their business plan for their company “Cactibulb.”
  • The Citigroup Foundation and Citigroup Ireland have been in partnership with Junior Achievement Ireland for over 6 years. More than 200 business volunteers from the bank have taught Junior Achievement programs. This year, 42,000 young people are benefiting from a JA program throughout Ireland.
Junior Achievement Romania
  • October 21st in Bucharest, Witold Zielinski, Citigroup Romania Country Officer, announced a US$10,000 grant from the Citigroup Foundation to support Junior Achievement Romania, a nonprofit organization that teaches students about free enterprise and the market economy.
  • Through lessons and school projects, students (aged 10-22) will improve their financial literacy, economics and business knowledge. Students will learn how to design their life strategy by improving their understanding of value and career choices, basic financial concepts, economics and business issues and will interact with volunteers from Citigroup Romania.
  • Citigroup employees will share their expertise throughout the program. During visits to participating schools, the bank’s employees will be guest speakers on different topics, including success stories, leadership, financial literacy and money management topics.
  • More than 1,000 students, teachers and educators will have access to innovative and creative teaching methods and tools for teaching personal values and career choices, money management and better understanding of the new market economy.
Citigroup International Case Competition
  • October 26th in Hong Kong, Citigroup and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology announced the opening of the second Citigroup International Case Competition 2004.
  • The event brings 17 teams of outstanding students from around the world, including the Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong, America, Canada and Singapore, to Hong Kong to compete on a real-life business case situated in Asia and to provide recommendations on important issues and challenges facing the company involved.
  • Frederick Ma, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury of the Hong Kong government, spoke at the opening ceremony of the competition.